Typical computer systems use specific computer firmware during the booting process to recognize, initialize, and test the hardware present in the given computer system, and load a boot loader or operating system (OS). Firmware platforms, such as basic input/output system (BIOS) or unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI), provide an interface that allows a variety of different parameters to be set, such as hardware and booting configuration parameters. For example, a firmware interface may be used to specify clock and bus speeds, indicate what peripherals are attached to the computer system, configure specific monitoring procedures, and set a variety of other parameters that affect performance and power usage of the computer system.
The firmware of a computer system is typically stored in flash memory, such as non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). The flash memory allows the firmware and firmware configurations to be rewritten without removing the memory chip from the computer device. Unfortunately, however, any modifications or updates to the firmware currently require the entire firmware image to be rewritten to the flash memory. This is called “flashing” the firmware image.